Author Archives: RY

Kids and Families

Sisters, sisters

IMG_0965-2logoI met Robyn and Howard and their growing girls at their new house, which they had just finished building and wanted to feature on their holiday card this year. They also lucked out on one of the warm December days we had—I was literally sweating during the session as they shielded the blinding sun out of their eyes! The girls were silly and funny and typical siblings—they love each other, but won’t hug each other—and are also incredibly photogenic. After taking some photos in front of the house in the blistering sun, we checked out the backyard and discovered some spots in their garden that turned out to be lovely backdrops for more pictures. Enjoy!

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Kids and Families

Holiday: Stephanie and Jeff and the kids!

 

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Stephanie and Jeff have two little people with two big personalities, and it was just a riot capturing their pictures. The big brother doesn’t like to admit that he really, deep down, loves his little sister. His sister, on the other hand, spent much of the photo shoot chasing him around trying to hug him to pieces. Stephanie opted for an urban look to the pictures so we met in downtown Silver Spring at the artsy Christmas tree and then to the new Silver Spring library. Here are a few shots from their session!

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Kids and Families

Holiday: Yasmin + Charlie + Baby

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Well, hello there little Christmas ornament! And she was cute and priceless enough to be enough to decorate anyone’s living room for the holidays – and holiday card, which is what Yasmin and Charlie called me up to help them out with. We went around Sligo Creek park in Silver Spring on a beautiful fall afternoon, just before sunset, and got some great late-afternoon lighting that highlighted this adorable little child and lovely family. Yasmin taught me a wonderful phrase: “baby bling,” to describe those little headbands, and her baby wore some cute little booties that kept falling off. The three of them were so much fun to hang out with that afternoon, and I was lucky to get a lot of great takes from this patient little one. A few of my favorites, below.

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Kids and Families

Holiday: Blue Steel Toddler

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Remember this kid? Well, here are a few of my favorites from this session! We’ve actually met a few times at the local watering hole (i.e. the playground) and when his mother, Joan, opened the door, we both went, “oh! I recognize you!” Anyway, this child woke up on the wrong side of the toddler bed that morning, but still managed to put on quite a winning look. I’m telling you, this kid is going to charm his way through life. I had such a great time photographing this little family.

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Kids and Families

Holiday: Shelly + Matt + Kids

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Shelly and Matt have a great little family, with a complete ham of a daughter and a total little bug of a baby boy. I had so much fun hanging out with them and taking pictures. They have endless smiles and lots of laughter, and made it easy to capture so many wonderful moments. We also lucked out on one of the last, warm, sunny fall days, in late November! Afterwards, their daughter showed me all her favorite toys and I would have stayed longer because she was just so hilarious, but I had to reluctantly shuffle off to another shoot. Here are a few of my favorites from that day.

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A snapshot from one of my jam-packed weekend of family photo shoots, just in time for upcoming holiday cards. This little girl was a real riot, and her baby brother was just all toothy smiles and cheeks. The camera loved them.

 

Kids and Families

A Snapshot: Early holiday cheer!

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Random, Special Events

The Avanti Orchestra

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The Avanti Orchestra is the orchestra of the Friday Morning Music Club, “a community of music lovers and musicians,” which “has promoted classical music in the Washington area for over 125 years.” It’s a volunteer group of experienced classical musicians who gather, play music, and perform for the greater Washington audience. The orchestra is led by Pablo Saelzer, a conductor who hails from Chile and teaches at Montgomery College. I was recently invited to photograph the orchestra as they performed at the Kennedy Center, featuring Washington International Competition winner, violist Deng Yifei of China. As a classically trained pianist and flutist, I was excited to be back on stage with other musicians, even though this time I was playing the part of the principal photographer.

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Conductor Pablo Saelzer with Washington International Competition winner and violist Deng Yifei of China.

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Kids and Families

Kids + Fall Leaves

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Fall and kids—my two favorite things. As a fall baby, I think I naturally gravitate towards the season. I was a big fan of orange and yellow (and still am), I used to love and still like the idea of collecting acorns for no reason other than to feel like a squirrel, and I chose this time of year for my wedding date. That and because the venue we liked had an opening.  But there’s also the rainbow of leaves that paints the blue skies and carpets the ground, the warm sun and the crisp morning air, the apples and pumpkins and all the cliches that make an easier transition from summer to cooler weather.

As tradition, we started to take annual photographs at our wedding site (Woodend) for its rainbow of foliage. As small people appeared in our lives, the pictures shifted from being of us to just being of them—because once you become parents, you pretty much disappear into an anonymous existence. Here are a few assortments that I took this year, at Woodend and then at my in-laws’ in Chicago.

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Kids and Families

Expecting: Kate and Tom!

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One small step for baby—one giant leap for parents

Tom and Kate—no, not that Tom and Kate, but a far cooler couple—are expecting their first-born this January! I caught them on a rainy fall afternoon right before a baby shower in their honor. Pregnancy is such a bizarre time in a woman’s life, with changing body shapes, an alien-like creature shoving its way around the belly, and the range of emotions and physical symptoms experienced in a short nine months. But you wouldn’t be able to tell with Kate—she just went about her afternoon like pregnancy was no big deal. Here are a few great moments of her and Tom just enjoying their last pre-child days.

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Kids and Families

Chicago babies!

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(Baby boy toes, Chicago)

I jetted to Chicago a couple weekends ago to meet some totally teeny-tiny, completely adorable and helpless little new humans. After you’ve had two of your own, you completely forget just how small they start off (although mine began in the 8-pound range, so they were never this small). Here you’ll meet my sister-in-law Lexi’s and Gregg’s baby girl, and Brandon’s and Stef’s baby boy (baby girl and baby boy are second cousins!) complete with sausage toes, yawns, cries, sleepy eyes, and doting parents.

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*YES! I come to Chicago often and would be more than happy to be your family/ engagement/ newborn/ etc. photographer when I’m in town. Please contact me for details on my upcoming trips!*

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Places

Iceland!

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Outside the Blue Lagoon

When on earth would we ever go to Iceland? And then the opportunity arose – thanks to a very clever marketing scheme between Iceland Air and the Icelandic government to lure people to their little frozen island. Fly Iceland Air on your way to, say, Amsterdam, and have a free layover up to seven days where you can wander around the island. We rented an awful car from a place called, appropriately, SAD cars, which rents them for dirt cheap, and drove ourselves through the Golden Tour to hike around waterfalls, rock fissures, a crater lake, the original geyser, and other scenic beauty that looks like Mars. We also took a dip into the very expensive but worthwhile Blue Lagoon, wandered Reyjavik, didn’t even try to understand any of the Icelandic language that was spoken, and ate lots of seafood. I was busy wrangling two small children that it wasn’t very easy to take all the amazing landscape of Iceland, but here are a small, select few.

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Geysir

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Downtown Reykjavik

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Lakeside Reykjavik

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The Blue Lagoon

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Reykjavik

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Icelandic plants

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Kids and Families

Fall family time

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Diana and Derek were the lucky winners of our preschool’s fundraising auction in which I donated a family session. As parents who spend most of their free time trying to get their kids dressed and fed and off to school, it was no surprise that nearly six months went by before we were able to set a date! However, they chose my favorite time of the year to take photos—autumn—at the time when it’s still warm enough for short-sleeves but cool enough to see the leaves start to change colors. We met up on a sunny Sunday at Sligo Creek park with their two boys and spent an afternoon capturing them snuggling, hugging, throwing rocks into the water, finding enormous sticks that doubled as walking canes and crutches and swords, and just enjoying their day with each other. I had such a great time hanging out with their little family! Thanks for a lovely afternoon!

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Kids and Families

Valentine family

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Beth and Shannon and their little girl celebrated their five-year anniversary on Valentine’s Day with a heart-shaped cake and red-and-pink hearts. Even though they formally married on another day, their first date was on Valentine’s Day, and they decided just to observe the one anniversary and kept the February 14 tradition. Their three-year-old, a perfect little lady, completed the heart-filled day in her little Minnie Mouse party dress. Here are some pictures of the cozy family in their Maryland home!

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Kids and Families

Married: Calli and Tom (for 35 years!)

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I *love* this family, and I think they like me enough too, because they keep inviting me back to document their most important family moments (such as Dan’s and Erin’s wedding, Dave’s and Emily’s engagement, and now Calli’s and Tom’s anniversary). Calli and Tom were married 35 years ago and never seem to have left the honeymoon phase. You never hear any spousal grumblings or any stereotypical doofus-husband or nagging-wife stories with these two. They are a true, honest equal team who held fast to their vows all these years, raised three great boys with matching heads, and prioritize each other’s happiness above everything else. Calli and Tom fill their lives with wondrous food, world adventures, a growing family, and genuine devotion and respect. For their anniversary, their kids and daughters-in-law flew in for the weekend to celebrate. Here are a few shots from that day!

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Kids and Families

Chicago child

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I spent a little time with an old friend and her newly expanded family out on a crisp fall day in Chicago. They asked me to take a few shots of them, which I happily obliged. Here is their little girl, an adorable petite perfect mix of both mom and dad, with giant curious eyes and doting new parents.

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Places

Outer Banks!

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Last August we took a maternity leave trip to sunny, humid Outer Banks for a week. This is one of my new favorite beach spots to rent a house—long stretches of seashell-flanked beaches, cool oceans, quiet evenings without the collegiate bar scene, beautiful homes with beautiful balconies overlooking the water and sunset.

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Kids and Families

Baby blues

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Who can resist this little one?

Seriously – there isn’t much to say in this blog write-up about this squishy little baby boy except that the pictures speak for themselves! Who doesn’t want to just pick up this little adorable guy and hug him to pieces? It was a fantastic spring weekend and he was full of pep and smiles for the camera. I won’t write anything more and just let you enjoy those little beaming blue eyes and toothy smile.

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